Well, I'm not amazing at walk cycles myself, so I'll mostly give you suggestions for the idle sprite, but I'll say a few things about your walk loop as well.
![[Image: qEz3OEL.png]](http://i.imgur.com/qEz3OEL.png)
Made some edits for the sake of convenience. Also added a couple of references from other games.
For the idle:
-First off, the pose. Usually, when a person is standing, they don't stand perfectly straight (their feet are at different angles, they might be angled more to one side, etc.) Good examples of this can be seen in the sprites from the Mana series, which I added to the picture above. In my edit, I spread his legs apart (and I guess the sprite might imply he's crouching a little?) to make him seem more battle ready.
-The angle. Usually, RPG sprites are from a "top down" perspective, even if it's just slightly. Your sprite's body looks entirely flat, and doesn't imply any particular perspective. The fact that the feet are just two blocks extending sideways hardly helps, honestly. I extended the feet vertically and shaded it (particularly the torso area) in a way that implies that the sprite is being looked at from above. Oh, also shifted the eyes a little for the sake of that.
-The shading and the colors. The shading on the hair is alright, but it's a different story for the body. The white and the grey shade contrast way too much. Personally, I'd use a light grey as the main color for what I presume is the armor, and give it a shade for lighting, and a couple more for shadows. On the flipside, the skin colors might not have enough contrast, but it's not as dire as the armor.
For the walk cycle:
-When a person walks, they not only move their arms, but also their torso. That is to say, their torso changes angle as a result of the movement of the arms. In your sprites, this is not the case, and that's one of the reasons why it looks unusual.
-The legs currently look like pistons bobbing up and down more than legs. There is no indication that the feel are leaving the ground (as is observed on the examples), so it comes off as this weird shuffle thing.
-Generally, I suggest you study a little the walk cycles of RPG's (such as the Mana series) to get a better idea of how the feet and torso should move.
I'm not sure what you're aiming for, so some of this might not be applicable, but I hope some of it helps you improve your sprite.
Made some edits for the sake of convenience. Also added a couple of references from other games.
For the idle:
-First off, the pose. Usually, when a person is standing, they don't stand perfectly straight (their feet are at different angles, they might be angled more to one side, etc.) Good examples of this can be seen in the sprites from the Mana series, which I added to the picture above. In my edit, I spread his legs apart (and I guess the sprite might imply he's crouching a little?) to make him seem more battle ready.
-The angle. Usually, RPG sprites are from a "top down" perspective, even if it's just slightly. Your sprite's body looks entirely flat, and doesn't imply any particular perspective. The fact that the feet are just two blocks extending sideways hardly helps, honestly. I extended the feet vertically and shaded it (particularly the torso area) in a way that implies that the sprite is being looked at from above. Oh, also shifted the eyes a little for the sake of that.
-The shading and the colors. The shading on the hair is alright, but it's a different story for the body. The white and the grey shade contrast way too much. Personally, I'd use a light grey as the main color for what I presume is the armor, and give it a shade for lighting, and a couple more for shadows. On the flipside, the skin colors might not have enough contrast, but it's not as dire as the armor.
For the walk cycle:
-When a person walks, they not only move their arms, but also their torso. That is to say, their torso changes angle as a result of the movement of the arms. In your sprites, this is not the case, and that's one of the reasons why it looks unusual.
-The legs currently look like pistons bobbing up and down more than legs. There is no indication that the feel are leaving the ground (as is observed on the examples), so it comes off as this weird shuffle thing.
-Generally, I suggest you study a little the walk cycles of RPG's (such as the Mana series) to get a better idea of how the feet and torso should move.
I'm not sure what you're aiming for, so some of this might not be applicable, but I hope some of it helps you improve your sprite.